Not applicable.
Not applicable.
Not applicable.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to wearing apparel having means to attach and secure articles, and more particular, headwear for securing articles such as glasses. A preferred embodiment of the present invention is a baseball style cap with an internal means for attaching or securing sunglasses to the cap above the brim of the cap, where the sunglasses may be readily secured and withdrawn therefrom.
2. The Prior Art
As is well known, many persons use sunglasses to shade their eyes when engaging in outdoor activities or sports such as jogging, running, tennis, fishing, boating and other outdoor recreations. Often times, the individual wearing the sunglasses also wears a hat to further protect himself or herself from the harmful rays of the sun, or to keep hair from being blown about in the wind. At times, a person wearing both sunglasses and a hat may need to remove the sunglasses for a particular reason, such as when entering a shadowed area or the interior of the building or for any other of a variety of reasons. Problems arise because there is often no convenient location to temporarily store the sunglasses in a secure manner. Many persons will often hook the temple of the sunglasses on the collar of a shirt. However, sunglasses hooked to the collar of a shirt are not secure, may fall off and get lost. Moreover, it is not convenient to readily remove the sunglasses with one hand to place them back on the nose and ears for wearing.
Similarly, one playing or working outdoors and wearing a hat may need to temporarily secure an object for ready retrieval. One example is a pencil. However, because the individual is wearing a hat, the pencil does not readily fit behind the ears and the use of a pant pocket is often cumbersome if not at all practical.
In the past, many efforts have been made for the convenient storage or securing of eyeglasses and other articles on hats for immediate and ready retrieval. However, unlike the present invention, most of the past efforts involve cumbersome external apparatus or other external means, which detract from the overall aesthetic appearance of the hat.
Other prior attempts to utilize an internal means for securing the article or sunglasses are often impractical, as these disclosures involve the sealing of the article within a pocket type receptacle thereby requiring the use of two hands to open or unseal the pocket. Other attempts utilizing receptacles are also impractical in that the article is not very secure when attached to the hat and may readily fall out, especially when the hat is removed.
The present invention uses an internal means of securing the sunglasses or other articles to the exterior of the hat. This is accomplished by a slit opening in the hat thereby providing access to the internal securing means. When the sunglasses or other articles are removed from the internal securing means, the slit opening returns to its former shape and is barely noticeable and almost invisible. The means used to secure the eyeglasses or other articles securely hold the objects in place during all types of vigorous activities such as jogging, tennis, cycling, fishing and other sports and recreation. Moreover, the hat may be removed and the article or sunglasses remain secured to the hat.
As noted, past attempts to create a convenient means for securing and retrieving sunglasses and other articles involve unsightly external modifications to the hat. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,860,167 discloses a hat with numerous unsightly external receptacles sewn about or otherwise attached externally to the cap. The receptacles, while providing a means for securing articles, including sunglasses, detract from the overall aesthetic appearance of the hat. Moreover, when the sunglasses or articles are removed, the external receptacles remain visible and aesthetically displeasing.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,179,753 teaches an encircling band with an unsightly clip above the brim of a visor or a brim of a cap. Not only is removal or retrieval of the sunglasses somewhat cumbersome with this disclosure, but again, the large clip on the front of the cap or visor remains conspicuously noticeable when the glasses are removed.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,867,874 discloses a clip like implement holder for securing the temples of the sunglasses. Although the clip can be removed from the cap, the clip is nonetheless external and unsightly when in use.
An extremely cumbersome and unsightly apparatus for holding eyeglasses is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,636,048. The primary objective of this disclosure, however, is to enable a person to utilize eyeglasses without having the eyeglasses contact the nose and ears.
Other types of devices have been utilized for supporting eyeglasses on the head of a wearer, such as is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 2,766,657, which is for glasses which are especially provided with a clip to engage the hair and support the spectacles; another such device is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 1,647,124; and, in the past, eyeglasses have been connected to hats in various ways, such as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 264,574 with a hinge connection, as is also typical of U.S. Pat. No. 857,838 and U.S. Pat. No. 1,514,111.
Various other forms of headwear for use while playing various sports have been patented. Many of these hats include pockets for storing and displaying articles. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 1,664,255 discloses a hat with a strip of cloth sewn into the side and divided into a number of small pockets. Unfortunately, the articles do not fit snuggly in the pockets and they can fall out when the hat is removed. One solution is suggested in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,744,256, 4,312,076, 4,451,935, and 5,539,929, which all disclose hats with sealable pockets. The shortcomings with these designs are that the stored articles are no longer visible and an extra step of having to open the pocket is needed to remove the articles. U.S. Pat. No. 5,581,813 discloses a hat with transparent pockets so that the articles are visible. However, like the hat of U.S. Pat. No. 1,664,255, the articles can fall out when the hat is removed.
A more recent disclosure of headwear utilizing an internal means for securing the temples of eyeglasses is set forth in U.S. Pat. No. 6,237,159 B1. Although the patent depicts three drawings of three different embodiments of the invention, only that embodiment disclosed in FIG. 3 is claimed. In this embodiment, the internal means for receiving the temples of the glasses is an internal headband, commonly found in almost all baseball caps. The upper edge of the internal headband is stitched to each side of the crown portion of the cap, from the point of insertion in the crown to a point approximately three inches toward the rear end of the crown.
Although U.S. Pat. No. 6,237,159 B1 seemingly addresses some of the shortcomings of the prior art discussed above, that disclosure nonetheless retains some disadvantages to the present disclosure. As the patent itself states, the disclosure of U.S. Pat. No. 6,237,159 B1 is essentially only effective with glasses having a straight end piece temple. By far, most glasses, especially sunglasses, consist of temples with a bend or curve at each end distal to the lens portion of the glasses for adequately securing the temples around the ears, thereby allowing the user to wear the glasses. Thus, the disclosure claimed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,237,159 B1 is not well suited for the vast majority of sunglasses manufactured and marketed world wide. In addition, the xe2x80x9cpocketxe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9csleevexe2x80x9d approach claimed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,237,159 B1 for securing the glasses may still allow for disengagement of the glasses during rigorous activity or when the cap is removed.
Despite the number of different disclosures related to securing articles, especially sunglasses, to hats, there remains a need for a hat or headwear that accomplishes the following objectives: 1) to securely and visibly hold the articles or sunglasses to the exterior of the hat; 2) to securely and visibly hold the articles or sunglasses without unsightly and/or cumbersome external receptacles, hinges, clips or other external modifications to the hat; 3) to securely and visibly hold the articles or sunglasses through the use of an internal securing means; 4) to allow for convenient and ready attachment (securing) and retrieval of the articles or sunglasses with one steady motion; and 5) to provide for an internal means for securing the articles or sunglasses that, upon removal or retrieval of the sunglasses or articles, is barely noticeable, almost invisible, such that the overall aesthetic design of the hat is maintained.
Unlike the prior art, the present version of the invention accomplishes all of the above objectives.
The present invention is directed to a headwear for securing articles or sunglasses to the exterior of the hat through the use of an internal securing means and that satisfies the needs identified above. In particular, the primary objectives of the present invention are to provide an item of headwear comprised of a hat that 1) securely and visibly holds the articles or sunglasses to the exterior of the hat; 2) securely and visibly holds the articles or sunglasses without unsightly and/or cumbersome external receptacles, hinges, clips or other external modifications to the hat; 3) that securely and visibly holds the articles or sunglasses through the use of an internal securing means; 4) allows for convenient and ready attachment (securing) and retrieval of the articles or sunglasses with one steady motion; and 5) provides for an internal means for securing the articles or sunglasses that, upon removal or retrieval of the sunglasses or articles, the securing means is barely noticeable, almost invisible, such that the overall aesthetic design of the hat is maintained.
The item of headwear having features of the present invention is comprised of three essential elements. The first element is the actual hat to be worn on the head. The hat may consist of a baseball type cap, a fisherman""s xe2x80x9cbucketxe2x80x9d hat, or any other of a variety of hats. The second primary element of the present invention is at least one slit opening in the hat, through which the article to be secured, whether it be a pencil or the temple of sunglasses, is inserted. The slit, when not in use, is barely noticeable and may appear invisible. This is especially so in the preferred embodiment of the present disclosure where the slit is located on a seam in the crown portion of the baseball cap. Inserting the article through the slit into the interior of the hat provides access to the third primary element of the present invention: an internal means for securing the article inserted through the slit. Once secured by the internal securing means, the article or sunglasses are now visibly attached to the exterior of the hat even though the means for securing the articles or sunglasses is internally located and cannot be seen or detected. Significantly, the aesthetic appearance of the hat is not distorted.
There has thus been outline, rather broadly, the more important features of the invention in order that the detailed description thereof that follows may be better understood, and in order that the present contribution to the art may be better appreciated. There are, of course, additional features of the invention that will be described hereinafter and which will form the subject matter of the claims appended hereto,
In this respect, before explaining at least one embodiment of the invention in detail, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited in its application to the details of construction and to the arrangements of the components set forth in the following description or illustrated in the drawings. The invention is capable of other embodiments and of being practiced and carried out in various ways. Also, it is to be understood that the phraseology and terminology employed herein are for the purpose of description and should not be regarded as limiting.
As such, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the conception, upon which this disclosure is based, may readily be utilized as a basis for the designing of other structures, methods and systems for carrying out the several purposes of the present invention. It is important, therefore, that the claims be regarded as including such equivalent construction insofar as they do not depart from the spirit and scope of the present invention.
Further, the purpose of the foregoing abstract is to enable the U.S. patent and Trademark Office and the public generally, and especially the scientists, engineers and practitioners in the art who are not familiar with patent or legal terms or phraseology, to determine quickly from a cursory inspection the nature and essence of the technical disclosure of the application. The abstract is neither intended to define the invention of the application, which is measured by the claims, nor is it intended to be limiting as to the scope of the invention in any way.
The internal securing means has two basic embodiments: 1) an internal lining comprised of a layer of a semi-rigid but flexible material, affixed to the inside surface of the hat circumferentially around the slit opening; and 2) two strips of VELCRO(trademark), affixed to each side of the slit opening, whereby the VELCRO(trademark), when compressed around the article inserted through the slit opening (such as the temples of eyeglasses), secures the article to the hat.
The first embodiment of the internal securing means discloses a lining of a layer of a semi-rigid, but flexible material, affixed to the inside surface of the hat circumferentially around the slit opening in the hat. The lining may be comprised of materials such as buckram, neoprene, stretch fabric, or any other material that is semi-rigid, thereby lending support and stiffness for securing the article, but yet flexible enough to be shaped and contoured to the design of the hat. The internal lining is affixed to the internal surface of the hat by processes such as stitching, gluing or other means readily known to those skilled in the art. Preferably, the entire surface area of the internal lining is in direct contact with and affixed to the internal surface of the hat.
The flexibility in the material used to line the internal surface of the hat allows the hat to maintain its natural shape. The internal lining also contains a slit opening that aligns directly with the slit opening in the hat. When the article is inserted through the slit in the hat, and then through the slit in the semi-rigid lining, the stiff nature of the lining causes it to grab or pinch around the article inserted. In the case of a lining of stretch fabric or neoprene, the nature of those materials also xe2x80x9cgrabsxe2x80x9d the article inserted. Because it is semi-rigid and capable of maintaining its own shape and form, the lining securely holds onto the article inserted, even when the hat is removed.
As with the case to attach or secure sunglasses to a hat such as a baseball cap, two such slits are required in the front crown section of the cap above the brim, with two internal securing means associated with each slit. The result is that sunglasses can be removed from the face by the wearer, and then easily guided into the two slits for each corresponding temple of the sunglasses. The natural round shape of the baseball cap is especially suited for guiding the temples into the slits, which preferably, are located along a seam line in the baseball cap.
The second embodiment of the internal securing means consists two strips of synthetic materials that adhere when pressed together, commonly sold under the trademark VELCRO(trademark), affixed to each side of the slit opening, whereby the VELCRO(trademark) strips, when compressed around the article inserted through the slit opening (such as the temples of eyeglasses), secure the article to the hat. This is an especially preferred method for securing sunglasses to the hat during extreme rigorous activityxe2x80x94such as fishing from a boat in rough waterxe2x80x94as the compressed VELCRO(trademark) strips form an exceptionally strong bond around the inserted article.
These and other features, aspects, and advantages of the present invention will become better understood with reference to the following description, appended claims and accompanying drawings.